


A Scene From Rachel's New Life

by lunaxe



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-19 13:34:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9443081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaxe/pseuds/lunaxe
Summary: This is a one-shot about Rachel’s life between Clarion Ladies Academy and Camp Half-Blood.





	

Rachel Elizabeth Dare was having a bad day. Screw that, she was having a bad week. First, she had a math pop quiz on Monday that she was 90% sure she failed. Then, she had to rush off and fly to Camp Half-Blood on Tuesday and Wednesday out of nowhere and miss two full days of classes (she wasn’t complaining exactly, she hated those classes, but class was class, and she couldn’t continue missing so many). This was, of course, the result of getting an Iris-message from Nico saying he and Will needed her help with Apollo after Meg disappeared without as much as a note explaining where she was going. Needless to say, she wasted no time escaping her hell hole of a school. Yes, the Clarion Ladies Academy was just as bad as it sounded. So, by the time she got back, early-morning, on Thursday, she wasn’t prepared to see the art room occupied by anyone at 5 AM, but, she was wrong again, and caught off-guard, like she had been about everything else so far this week.

The girl was about seventeen, and was wearing paint-stained clothes, like Rachel, but that’s about where the resemblance stopped. She had pixie-cut navy blue hair with a shaven undercut to match her stormy blue eyes circled with kohl, was wearing a colorful paint-splattered black skirt with ripped fishnet tights, blue sneakers, and a long sleeved Smashing Pumpkins black sweatshirt with red details peeking out behind an even messier white apron. The strange girl grinned, and waved her hand in a half-wave to Rachel, then bounded over.

“Hi! My name’s Asi Preens.” the girl, Asi, held out her hand. Rachel shook herself out of her daze and shook it. “Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Pleased to meet you.” Rachel responded.

“I’m sorry, I thought the art room would be empty so early in the day, I didn’t mean to interrupt anything, I just got back from Long Island and needed to paint over the void.” Rachel joked, suddenly self-conscious of her unbrushed flaming red hair, probably sticking out in strange places. But since when had she been nervous about that? Gods, one glance from a pretty girl and here she was, playing swooning maiden in the not-so-faerie-like life she was stuck in. She laughed a little to herself about her newfound role, and expected Asi to draw those pretty eyebrows together in confusion; instead, Asi grinned wider, which Rachel had previously thought wasn’t possible. It made Rachel’s heart flutter a little faster in her chest, and she was probably stupidly grinning back at Asi. Asi. Gods, she hoped she would never get tired of that name, and she doubted she ever would, with the way the girl was peeking behind her blue bangs at her, her smile shrinking in area, but with its consistent power of about 150 watts.

“Camp Half-Blood business, I presume?” Asi asked politely as if she had not just dropped the biggest bomb of all time. Rachel’s mouth opened and closed in silent shock. Who is this girl? Rachel thought, And how come I’ve never met her?

Asi laughed, breaking the tension like glass. “Don’t worry, cutie, you didn’t give anything away, besides the orange t-shirt you’re wearing. Daughter of Poseidon at your service.” Rachel’s heart was still doing cartwheels over the label ‘cutie’.

Rachel’s mouth closed, she took a deep breath, and reassured herself with: She’s just a girl. Just a normal human being like me. Well, half-human, but still. A mortal. “May I ask why I never see you at Camp if you’re a daughter of Poseidon, Asi?”

Asi laughed. It sounded like the fluttering wings of doves under a thin layer of melted caramel, sweet and reassuring to Rachel’s ears. “Oh, I tried Camp when I was about nine, didn’t exactly fit for me. I already had been on the run from monsters from a very young age, and I ran away from home first around then too. So, I already knew how to take care of myself, and once I learned enough about the demigod world, at least, according to Chiron, he said I was free to go around the age of eleven. Then I left, caught a bus back to Chicago, killed a few emposai along the way, and made peace with my family. The solution was, once I was fourteen and in ninth grade, I’d start attending Clarion Ladies Academy, and for me, I would be allowed to move out right after school ends permanently, start a shop to sell my art, possibly join a few punk bands, and do whatever the Hades I’d like to do with my life.”

Rachel laughed, nervously. “Sounds similar to my situation, actually.” She explained meeting Percy, the Titan war, striking up a deal with my father, and becoming Camp Half-Blood’s Oracle. She seemed to know exactly when to laugh and when to be serious. Asi continued painting a canvas image similar to one Rachel had once made about the Empire State Building while she talked, and by the end of her story, the sun was rising over the fields in Connecticut.

Asi looked over at the orange sunrise, then glanced back at Rachel. “I hope we’ll meet again someday, Rachel. I have a feeling we will. And I’d love to see what’s changed in the camp since I last saw it, and Clarisse and Annabeth! Oh my gods, it’d be amazing to see them too. But for now, I have to change into school uniform. Nice talking to you.”

Rachel smiled and responded with a courteous “Nice talking to you as well, Asi.”

She left her painting to dry on the easel and gracefully walked almost completely out of the room. Their hands brushed, she picked up hers and rubbed her thumb over Rachel’s. Then, like something out of a movie, she brought it to her mouth and her lips brushed it. Smirking, she said “Oh, hey. By the way, you’re in my art class. Just thought you should know.”

Rachel’s eyes widened slightly, and a large grin appeared on her face. “Oh, well then, O Fair Maiden, I think I’ll need something to remember you by if we actually are in AP Art History together.”

She smirked again. Asi said, “Well, maybe I’ll give you something to think about for a while then.” Rachel thought to herself, I need to do something about that beautiful smirk of hers. And, it seemed she didn’t have to make the first move for once. Because then they were kissing, excellent, out of this world, mind-blowing kisses, each one louder and faster than the last. Becoming more and more passionate by the second. And then it was over, Asi pulled away like what had just happened had been nothing, though her cheeks were flushed ever-so-slightly. Rachel thought, I need to paint her someday. If I don’t, I think I might go mad.

Asi smiled again and said “Until we meet again, Rachel Elizabeth Dare. See you in art.”

Oh, I will. Rachel thought to herself. See you.

Then, with the smell of vanilla and cigarettes in the air still lingering, Asi danced out of the room.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work of fiction. These characters (besides Asi) belong to the beautiful Rick Riordan.


End file.
